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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2021)
A6 • Friday, November 19, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com Fees: Rental license revenue slightly exceeds costs Continued from Page A1 and enforce local codes related to items like noise, litter and parking. There are currently 411 vacation rental units in Sea- side, including vacation rental dwellings, transit rental condos and bed and breakfasts. Fees start at $475 annu- ally for smaller rent- als, increasing to $500 for those dwellings with six to 10 occupants and $550 for 11 and more occu- pants. The money covers the $95,000 salary for the code enforcement offi cer and related expenses for the department. The city anticipates about $165,000 from the license fees. After itemizing costs related to the code compli- ance offi cer and expenses, they are estimating a sur- plus of about $29,000. If the council wanted to, it could look at reducing the vacation rental licenses by as much as 15%, which would be about $75 apiece, Winstanley said. “But that would kill any residual BUSINESS LICENSE FEES Business license fees are distributed to support the community devel- opment department, the Seaside Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Development Association, City Manag- er Mark Winstanley said Wednesday. Additional money avail- able goes to the Seaside Civic and Convention Center for use in their capital improvement program. Those fees should remain at their current level, Councilor David Posalski said. “I don’t believe that there’s a change that we would want to imple- ment for this coming year. But I think it should be on the calendar early next year to discuss changes for the following year.” City Manager Mark Winstanley, left, with members of the City Council, Tom Horning, Dana Phillips, Randy Frank, Mayor Jay Barber, Steve Wright and Tita Montero. money.” There will be continuing increases in costs, he said. “I think that’s a given in fact that’s all the conversation is taking place right now around the United States is the fact that costs are increasing on an ongoing basis and the costs associ- ated with the code enforce- ment offi cer are going to increase.” Winstanley presented options of keeping the fee as it is, or reducing it by an amount to evenly match city expenses associated with vacation rentals. “My sense is that even vacation owners are feel- ing more supportive of their role and managing their own business,” Barber said. “Let’s go another year, see how it goes and see where we come out.” Vacation rental dwell- ings are the topic of a City Council and Planning Com- mission joint work session on Nov. 29. LEFT: Proposed location of a fi rehouse and police station on Highlands Lane. RIGHT: Property designated for a proposed Gearhart fi rehouse and park. City of Gearhart DINING on the Fire station: Public meetings, open house ahead Continued from Page A1 ics and newsletters and that sort of thing,” Sweet said. “And then in about a month, month and a half, we’ll begin getting that information out to the pub- lic for people to debate and discuss.” There will also be scheduled public meet- ings to present some of this information in the near future as well, Sweet said, beginning right around the new year. “We’ll continue the discussions as often as we can.” In October, the fi re department held an open house during the Great Oregon Shakeout, a tsu- nami preparedness event. Another open house is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 21, from noon to 3 p.m., interim Fire Chief Josh Como said, with grilled burgers and hot dogs. Gearhart: City’s intention is to go to voters in May Continued from Page A1 boundary exchange by next spring because of the pub- lic notice and hearings that must take place. “Public notice is really important to make sure we follow all those rules and make sure that those are done prop- erly,” Fregonese said. After the report is avail- able, public hearings with the Planning Commission, City Council and county Board of Commissioners would follow, which Fre- gonese recommended take place concurrently. “That should save us months as we move for- ward through this with a goal of April having some- thing that is brought to council that can be adopted as a comprehensive plan change and a UGB expan- sion,” he said. “I don’t want to make any promises but that’s the goal. We’re work- ing toward it now.” Right now, the plan is to proceed with the UGB Great Restaurants in: GEARHART • SEASIDE CANNON BEACH WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO? • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner • Junior Menu RESTAURANT & LOUNGE • Lighter appetite menu E RIL Y’ S at Gearhart subdivision off Highlands Lane into the city’s urban growth bound- ary in a land swap for acre- age in the state’s no-build line. The land would be used for a fi rehouse and police station.The current proposed location off of Highlands Lane had been scheduled for Novem- ber, but a ballot challenge bumped that until next spring. Despite delays, City Administrator Chad Sweet said the process is moving forward, with a team form- ing around the fi re station and councilors and mem- bers of the public coming out and wanting to assist. “At this point in time we are building our infor- mation, starting to put together better graph- NORTH COAST BEST BREAKFAST IN TOWN! Fish ‘n Chips • Burgers • Seafood & Steak Friday & Saturday - Prime Rib Lounge Open Daily 9-Midnight All Oregon Lottery products available 1104 S Holladay • 503-738-9701 • Open Daily at 8am Excellence in family dining found from a family that has been serving the North Coast for the past 52 years exchange without waiting for the election. City Administrator Chad Sweet said the city’s inten- tion is to go to voters in May for a fi rehouse bond vote. “That is ultimately the council’s decision,” he said. “That is what the staff is heading toward with the help of these other folks.” Great Breakfast, but that’s not all... • Great lunch and dinner menu,too! The parking has grown to a dozen families, City Councilor Tita Montero said. Their activity has dis- turbed the neighborhood and lowered property val- ues, residents said. “You want to take the property value of that whole section,” Tom Veazey said. “Not by a point, but by 10 points. You should be ashamed of yourselves, absolutely ashamed.” The delivery of the peti- tion coincided with conclu- sions from the city’s home- lessness think tank, a group seeking strategies to man- age the growing homeless population. Among the recommen- dations, the group advised establishing a managed carp park to enable the city to comply with federal legal rulings and a state law related to homeless camp- ing. “We cannot move peo- ple out of where they are camping and where they are residing in their cars if we don’t have a place for them to go to,” Montero said. Since the parking lot off Necanicum is already in use, the think tank advised the city to “acknowledge the reality” and enforce health and safety measures at the site. Activist Seamus McVey, who serves on the think tank, shared his own expe- rience with homelessness, which he said began the day he left the military. “I’m the person that everybody wants to kick out,” McVey said. “During my time being homeless, I’ve been spit on, assaulted and had garbage thrown at me. Not by other homeless people, by people who just didn’t like the way I looked. If people don’t deserve to live in a neighborhood, where do they deserve to live exactly? “We’re all people,” McVey said. “You don’t know how we got there. I’m lucky enough to be off the streets now. But I’ll be hanged if I’m going to let somebody try to treat others in the position I was as fi lth and garbage not deserv- ing of a place to lay down, not deserving of the basic human dignity and respect that we would all want for ourselves.” The city’s priority is to locate a car park or RV park somewhere within the region so people could move from the homeless camp, Mayor Jay Barber said. “This is not a permanent site,” he said. “This is sit- ting on property that’s there for construction purposes. One of the priorities that we’re looking at is locating a permanent site that would be managed, hopefully by a nonprofi t organization, that has experience in other cities. It also protects the rights of housed people.” • Homemade Clam Chowder, Salads! Seaside • 323 Broadway • 738-7234 (Open 7 Days) Cannon Beach • 223 S. Hemlock 436-2851 (7am-3pm Daily) Astoria • 146 W. Bond • 325-3144 Encampment: ‘We’re all people. You don’t know how we got there’ Continued from Page A1 • Great pasta, steaks & seafood! Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe 10% OFF your purchase through 11/30/21 MILKSHAKE HAPPY HOUR 3PM-5PM, $1 OFF ALL MILKSHAKES 232 N. Spruce • Cannon Beach, Oregon 503.436.4331 Starting in October: 9am-5pm daily, closed on Tuesday and Wednesday Call Sarah Silver 503.325.3211 ext 1222 YOUR RESTAURANT AD HERE. Find Your Next Regular Customers!